Gauntlet Chainsaw is my main attack on my level 39.5 character. I performed extensive testing on all my powers and decided on a final build based on my findings. One of these findings was that Gauntlet Chainsaw did not receive a damage bonus from STR.

So I used my free respec and kept mostly the same character, with maybe 1 or 2 power changes and straightened out my talents. Now I just read the patch notes going in soon:

Gauntlet Chainsaw: Fixed a bug preventing it from scaling with Strength, as all Melee powers do.

You know... it's really impossible to tell what is "bugged" and what is intended with this game. Basically now on my carefully planned and preened character I'm going to do 20% less damage with my primary attack. My talents are all near the first half of my character, and even with the "new economy" would take a crazy amount of cash to change.

That's besides the point though. I just used a free respec to tune my character to begin with. Ironically I dropped STR because it did not help me. Now why should I have to grind for who-knows how long to save cash to adjust my character like I would have built it with this change to begin with?

I'm really getting tired of this respec issue. I understand that it hurts the alt/replay issue if people can just completely remake their character into anything they want, but should this design flaw be my problem? Every respec I've done on any of my characters is always to fix mistakes or adapt to changes... not take 40 levels and apply them to something entirely different.

You can call me a perfectionist or a "min-maxer"... I suppose that's what I am. Knowing that I could make pretty much the same exact character only noticeably more effective will drive me nuts. I guess I'll just start playing one of my alts or create and new character. This will get old though. The most dynamic character customization should have the most dynamic respec system... instead we have the most punishing of any MMO I've ever played.

Lets be honest, like mini mines we all knew a gauntlet chainsaw nerf was coming, ive heard numerous people discuss how overpowered it was. And on testing it myself confirmed what they said.

Dont get me wrong i agree the constant balancing is annoying, the same thing happened when they nerfed mini mines to my munitions toon. But honestly i couldnt complain to much cause i took the power knowing knowing it was overpowered.

It was doing way to much damage anyway (chainsaw) so just 20% less still makes it pretty powerful. Just be thankful it didnt get hit for a 75% reduction like MM

Am I reading the patch notes wrong? Wouldn't them allowing it to now get the 20% STR bonus be a buff?

You'll find a lot of people like him here. The kind of people that don't read anything and just post the same junk again and again.

Oh yeah rereading that it does seem that way... which begs the question of why the original post??
Or did you only just realise as well?

If they are buffing it like that expect the world and his wife to start using it next patch, its already OP imo

It'll probably be reviewed after the bug is gone due to how much damage it can do in a short time frame.

That said, the respec you chose makes absolutely no sense. If a physical melee power is not scaling with Strength, bug it. I knew it wasn't and I have a report in for it. Wait for a response to be given if that's the only criteria you have for changing the build. Sounds like there wasn't an urgent issue causing you to respec, so why would you spend it knowing that a power is bugged?

Sorry, but this is just intensely weird to me.

At the least they could do is offer a free respec after a major change, whether its a bug or nerfing. Come on cryptic, you know you want to ease our suffering!! ;)

They gave my main attack an attribute that it is modified by, and I just respecced out of that attribute because it didn't previously modify it. I have 10 in the attribute that modifies my main attack now.

Initially I thought that it would be modified by STR, but you know what? It wasn't. I tested it the same way I tested Ego blades and Laser Sword. Is it because of some undocumented physical vs energy thing? Is it because it's a cone attack? Hell if I knew, I just knew the way it was based on my results.

In short, I didn't know that the power was bugged, and respecced to get rid of a stat that I wasn't really using. You'll just have to take my word for it.

So all you want is to rechoose ST as a superstat, really??
Its pretty easy to get st very high anyway just through gear...

So it doesn't really matter what you choose as your starting stats, talents, or super stats because you can change them all with gear? That's really comforting, thanks. Maybe we don't even need a respec system at all.